Monday, September 21, 2015

Weekly Geek! Matthew & Mabon

Happy Mabon! This installment of the Weekly Geek is a continuation of the exploration of names. This week we are covering one of the many names of our favorite vampire: Matthew! "We give all of our children many names when they are reborn to us. But Matthew was the name he came to us with, and he wanted to keep it. Christianity was very new then, and Philippe thought it might be useful if our son were named after an evangelist.” ADOW p 323.

With that single quote, Ysabeau served up a hearty snack for these Daemons!

We all know "Names are important" is an All Souls Trilogy mantra. Our hero's name is no exception. First things first: "Matthew" means "gift of God" and can ultimately be traced back to Hebrew. More specifically, Matthew takes his name from one of the Apostles and the author of the first Gospel. Matthew the apostle also went by the name Levi. He is only mentioned five times in the New Testament. According to some traditions, he traveled to Ethiopia as an evangelist, spreading the teachings of Jesus. Little detail is known about his life and it is unclear as to who achieved his martyrdom. Is any of this starting to sound familiar?

In the Catholic tradition, St. Matthew is the patron saint (i.e. protector) of bankers, most likely because he was a tax collector. His feast day is September 21st.

St. Matthew

Soooooo, our Matthew is the namesake of an apostle with a murky history (reminds us of Matthew Roydon). Undoubtedly, our Matthew has also offered protection to a certain copper-haired vampire/banker on the battlefield on multiple occasions. Part of Matthew's mission is to teach creature unity and tolerance (just the job for an evangelist!)

But wait! There's more!

"Notes and Queries asked me accusingly why I had bothered to go and get it if I wasn’t even going to look at it; my to-do list was equally full of reproach. I ripped it off the top of the pad, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the wicker basket under the desk. “‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’” I muttered under my breath." ADOW p 31.

Diana quotes Matthew 6:34 after her meeting with the elusive, reclusive Professor Clairmont, as he kills her productivity for the day! And now the biggest non-coincidence of them all: Matthew and Diana first meet on St Matthew's feast day September 21st ... which also happens to be Mabon Eve.

As all these little coincidences pile up, a question magically appears on the white table: Just how much did Philippe know when the decision was made to have Matthew keep his name? Inquiring daemons want to know!

P.S. If you have something you'd like us to explore on Weekly Geek, contact us!
You may find your curiosities addressed on one of our future geekly
posts! If you enjoy our Weekly Geeks and/or our other regular features,you can subscribe
and have our posts come straight to your inbox. No spam, promise! No
post, no email. Simple as that, and you can unsubscribe at any time!